From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V5 #151 Reply-To: chakram-refugees@smoe.org Sender: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk chakram-refugees-digest Tuesday, June 14 2005 Volume 05 : Number 151 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [chakram-refugees] Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Review [IfeRae@aol.com] [chakram-refugees] Season 2... [cr ] Re: LM: Re: [chakram-refugees] LL Casting News!! ["S. Wilson" http://www.bitchofrome.com/seattle_2005_review.html > > THERE Ife! ;) > > Okay, it's nothing super fancy right now, but I promised to get it up today, > and I did with two minutes to spare. :D >> What?! "THERE Ife!'? What happened to "HERE, Ife!" You're not posting it on c-r? We have to work?! Go to the website? Humph! Oh ye who forget some of us still have dial-up. Okay, when I get back online, I suppose I can meander over "THERE" and save or copy the review. You've probably got some graphics you want us to see too, eh? > > The page will look a lot nicer later and be easier to navigate. JUST the > intro and Friday stuff right now. Sat and Sun will be added to this page as I > go. The gallery will also be able to be accessed from here shortly. I have all > the Lucy, Adrienne and dance party pictures done, so just Paris, Steven, > Katherine and Renee to go (so...many...Renee...pictures). ">> Yeah, yeah. Long as you got Lucy. I trust "all the Lucy" means more than one. > > I know, I suck so much! But, as Ife would say, I've been slacking with other > things: >> Ah ha! I knew it! Meeting my new kittens, shopping for them, apartment hunting, FINISHING MY > NOVEL, packing, watching "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" (which I owe a review for, I > know, I know) and celebrating my friend's b-day, so, BAH! It's been a VERY > busy month! Oh, AND preping my interview with Steven L. Sears, which I haven't > done yet either. Eeee, I better drop him a line and let him know I didn't > drop off the face of the earth! Oye! >> Who cares about Sears? Does he indulge conversation about kittens, shopping, other miscellaneous dalliances and such? I don't think so. But who does? Yes. Us. The people you *should* care about. Which, I guess you did, seeing as how you abandoned the kitties long enough to FINALLY write your report. Heh, wait'll I tell Sears where he came on the totem pole. Just kidding. When he and I do lunch, I'll mention how you sacrificed your whole life just to prep for him. I won't rat you out until after he's paid the bill. Bwahahahaha! > > Anyway, enjoy the review! > So you don't think I'm a total ingrate, go the extra mile. However, this does make it harder to instantly gush, make witty (or snarky) comments, etc. You might get some "thanks," but that's probably more than the kitties'll give you. And, no, you don't "suck." I appreciate the effort. No doubt Sears will too. Someday. Bwahahaha! - -- Ife the Terrible ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 00:57:00 +1200 From: cr Subject: [chakram-refugees] Season 2... Well, I just finished watching Season 6 on DVD, so now I've started Season 2 (I don't have S1 on DVD and probably never will... I've got it all on tape) The S2 DVD set doesn't have anything like the extras that later sets did - no interviews, and just three eps with commentaries, Return of Callisto, Destiny (good choices those) and A Day in The Life which doesn't thrill me. Season Three was a huge step up in that respect. Orphan of War was a good start, though. Was this the first ep where we found that Xena had a personal past history? Anyhow, though kids on TV usually make me cringe, all credit to David Taylor and the writers for Solan - he could so easily have been cringingly cute, and he wasn't. (Same goes for Daphne in Little Problems, and Hope in Maternal Instincts. And, I guess, the young Amazons in Sin Trade. I think because they were all written, and played, as serious characters who just happened to be young adults.) Curiously, in Orphan, Dagnine had some of the best lines - Seer: What if something goes wrong? Dagnine: One of you gets my tent, other one gets my horse. And there's some really good writing (and acting) everywhere Xena talks to Solan and we know she's aching to tell him the truth, and won't let herself. I don't care for the next ep, Remember Nothing, though I know it's highly rated by some folks. I think probably because I don't like seeing Xena handicapped, unable to fight properly - in this case, by the Fates' decree that she can't kill anybody. Watching it again, though, it didn't seem so much that the Fates swapped Xena into an alternate reality and events ran on naturally from there, as that the Fates were almost deliberately making the alternate reality intolerable for Xena - she was virtually forced into killing. Maybe it was her decision in the end, but she had a hefty nudge from those pesky Fates. I care for the next ep, Giant Killer, even less (it's on my TV right now and I'm finding more interest in my keyboard). Possibly my second least favourite ep of all - I like it less than The Titans or The Prodigal, only Fishsticks surpasses it. Partly, I have an aversion to bringing religion into Xena (and in that respect I disliked the presence of David and Goliath far, far more than Archangel Michael). Heck, David's even quoting the twenty-somethingth Psalm at Gabs right now! And it's not even a Xena story, it's just something out of the Old Testament, rehashed. And it's not Xena's story in another sense - David gets more screentime than Xena. He even gets to kill the villain. This, I could get at Sunday School. This is not a Xena ep! All Xena gets to do is set up the death of her old friend Goliath, which is not particularly creditable (this is good Xena remember, not EvilXena) - and then she doesn't even get to do the dirty work herself. Ack! This is all so bad that the huge time warp involved doesn't even register on my radar. Okay, ep's finished, thank Hades. Next one's Return of Callisto, much better thank you. cr ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2005 10:23:53 -0500 From: "S. Wilson" Subject: Re: LM: Re: [chakram-refugees] LL Casting News!! At 12:47 AM 6/11/2005 -0400, you wrote: >In a message dated 6/10/2005 10:22:20 AM Pacific Daylight Time, >xenatorres@bitchofrome.com writes: > > > For those who don't watch the show, will the rest of you provide alerts to > > when Lucy will be appearing? > > > >Which brings up the conundrum we had during Tarzan. To wit, will we be >allowed to discuss Lucy's Battlestar Gallactica eps on C-R? Some people >tried >setting up another list for Tarzan, but it didn't work out too well. I couldn't force myself to watch Tarzan for all the bananas in the world. I struggled through to see LL, but in the end even she wasn't enough to sit me still. I think I even joined a Tarzan mailing list (for what, I still don't know) that went defunct after the show did. I don't mind talking LL's BSG appearance(s) here. I think we stay largely XWP-focused which makes me happy as that's what I joined for, but since there is no more XWP, I don't think it's out of the realm of what I could enjoy on this list if we talked LL's (and ROC's) performances elsewhere. I think she's only going to be on an ep or two, so there may not be that much to talk about anyhoo. I mean... I guess if she jogs up or down a flight of stairs, or has her hair a certain way, we could analyze that to tiny little bits and pieces for a couple of months. :P *ducking* BSG talk is fine with me, in the context of LL's appearance. I'm on an 'over 30' list for BSG, though, which means its free of all the "omgggg he's sooo hawttt!!11!1" postings on other lists. I think we could easily pull alongside and board it if any of you so desired. :) Aarrr! S. ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2005 10:44:43 -0500 From: "Xena Torres" Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Review >You're not posting it on c-r? Well, it's not all nicely formated with italics on the list. :P Okay, okay, I've posted the whole darn thing below too. ;) >What?! "THERE Ife!'? What happened to "HERE, Ife!" HA HA HA! And, yeah, there seems to be some slow loading issues. I'll have to talk to my 'server' about that. She made be loading large files again. ;) Course, I did also save the images pretty big so everyone can really enjoy them. They are all under the 100 KG rule of course. ;) >You've probably got some graphics you want us to see too, eh? Actually, there's only one picture on that whole page. I didn't have time for more than that. ;) I'll be touching it up mind you. ;) >Yeah, yeah. Long as you got Lucy. I trust "all the Lucy" means more than one. It means ALL of my Lucy Lawless shots, which are here: http://www.bitchofrome.com/seattle_2005_gallery.html Only Lucy and the dance party are up right now. I'll put more up as I have time. Adrienne is done, so I should get that loaded Friday at the latest. Then I need to figure out how to use the new scanner to scan my photos of Renee and I and Adrienne and I. Mwhahahahaha! ;) Oh, and if anyone finds a link that doesn't work, do let me know, as I was rushed. ;) >>But, as Ife would say, I've been slacking with other things: >> > Ah ha! I knew it! BUSTED! ;) >Heh, wait'll I tell Sears where he came on the totem pole. When he and I do lunch, I'll mention >how you sacrificed your whole life just to prep for him. I won't rat you out until after he's >paid the bill. Bwahahahaha! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! ;) > -- Ife the Terrible - -no comment And here's the review again (for lazy people *cough, cough*): I honestly can't remember when I first heard about this event. It may have been September, possibly a post on chakram-refuges from Sharon, but the moment I heard, I was already there. Lucy Lawless, my absolute idol, and Renie O'Connor in the Pacific Northwest? Oh...my...gods. Who cares the prices, gold seats would be mine (my first time buying the most expensive tickets - but it would be worth every cent). Then came the agonizing months of waiting. Seven months from the time I bought my tickets until the event. Oh most foul cruelty! Before the convention, I decided that, for an even as huge as this, it was high time I bought myself a real camera. So, two weeks before the convention and $1,500 later, I have myself a Nikon coolpix 8800, with extra battery and top of the line 1GB memory card. The pictures I was able to take tell me I made the right choice. ;) Thursday, May 12th, Ashera and I head down from Canada to meet up with Jenna "Silverwaves" Tomlin for the weekend of our geek lives! I must discuss our boarder experience because it was just funny. As we arrive at US customs, Ashera makes the mistake of saying we're going to a TV convention (I've already learned my lesson with this). So the boarder guard wants to know what kind. "Xena." "What?" My goodness, an under-the-rock dweller! Haven't met one of those in a long time! Ashera replies, "It's a geek thing" and now they can't get us to leave fast enough. ;) We arrived at Jenna's around 11pm and were bouncing off of the walls until around 1 or 2am. Tomorrow, we'll see Lucy! FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2005 Convention day! First step is to check the schedule which has now been posted. Gak! Let's just say the schedule induced a little rage. Auctions on all three days (though, I am happy that Creation announced that $10,000 was raised over the weekend by our small group - way to go Xenites!). :P Now, even with the small guest list, Renie is only on stage for an hour and five minutes. >:( Poor Paris only has forty minutes and Adrienne fifty to the single episode writer Katherine's fifty-five and the two episode writer Missy's fifty. Uh...yeah, that makes sense. *Callisto hiss*. Adrienne guest starred in ten episodes and is a major character and didn't even get scheduled for a full hour?! Sure, all of them ran over their time, but it's the principal of it all! We arrived at the Renaissance (perfect name, wouldn't you say?) shortly after 2pm for gold seat pre-registration. For some reason that I can't fathom, the Creation people walked down the line that was lined up outside the building and handed out the Renie autographed photos while we were waiting. They were handed to all fans who already had their tickets, but seeing as how they had to wait in line for their tacky cuffs - er, bright orange wrist bands - anyway, all the while still standing outside, this was not the idle location to keep valuable autographs. Good thing I brought a lot of extra photo sleeves! ;) Ah, my tickets. Row E as Creation had informed me, right? No...wait...that letter isn't an E. My gods, it's....it's an A!!!!!!!!!!! We're in row freaking A!!!!!!! Bless you Olympus! This camera, that close and no heads in my way. I nearly melted into useless mush right there. I got the delightful pleasure of meeting Judy (Wishes), my second favourite fan fiction write (after the amazingly talented Pam Wilson), and she told me about a book she wrote that's coming out, "Counterfeit World" which I look forward to reading. (And in the event you'd like to hunt it down, Judy's name as located on the cover is Jufy Intaglio). Now into the convention room. Hmmmm, very small and about half of it is gold seating. Not that I really care because I'm in row A anyway and small conventions rule! The convention opened to an introduction by a Creation staff member who said Sharon had some fun stuff to show. He then asked who we thought the most successful person from Xena was. Seemed Kathryn Morris of Cold Case fame was the fan choice. However, though Kathryn might be winning for acting (although Melinda Clarke on The O.C. could also be debated), for actual cash winning value, all hail Claire Stansfield! Claire's shirt business was recently sold to Liz Claiborne for twenty-eight million dollars and Claire and her friend are still running the business. We then had a video salute to kick ass women: Xena, Sydney, Faith, Lara Croft, Elektra and more. Best video of the con. Sharon was on next and asked if there were three Xenites in the crowd who had been out looking for Lucy; a trio, one in a Xena shirt, one in a Double Dare shirt and the third in a cowboy hat. Someone said they were still out looking for Lucy by checking the Starbucks. So, Sharon has a story to tell (which she actually told twice, so I'll just mingle them together). These three fans were walking along and a woman came up to them, her hair in a Mr. Gage and wearing a t-shirt. "Hey! Double Dare!" "Uh-huh" as they moved off. "You're Xena fans," the woman said, point at the Xena shirt. "Uh-huh" as they continue to move away from LUCY LAWLESS HERSELF. Ooooooooo, that has to be the ultimate kick yourself moment. OUCH! Sharon talked about how she wanted to get video footage of Lucy coming to her first rehearsal, but Sharon had been talking with someone, and suddenly Lucy is beside her. So Lucy runs away, down the alley and around the corner. "Action!" Sharon directs and Lucy comes down the alley, turns to a garbage bin and begins to rummage through it. :D Only Lucy. I must now express my displeasure at the skipping of the Xena silent movie. I've only ever seen a teaser for it, and I thought it was great and once I saw it on the schedule, I was really looking forward to it! Instead we watched a very LONG video segment. A little too much video viewing at this convention for my taste. MORE STAR STAGE TIME PLEASE! They all seemed content to carry on, so what the hell are we watching all these videos for????? :P But, for those without my massive video collection, I suppose this would have been fun to watch as it was a clip show of other roles done by Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor. As I had pretty much everything, it was a little mundane, but as Lucy and Renee gave Sharon these pieces, at least there were a few things I had yet to see, like Renee on The Price is Right (she wasn't very good at all) and some commercials of Lucy's as well as her soap. Then Sharon's cell phone rang. "It's Renee," she tells us. Cheering!!!!!!! Unfortunately, Renee could not be heard, so Sharon and her shared a few words, to Renee's amusement that we were all sitting their listening to Sharon's end. And then "Bye Renee!" Now it was auction time and Jenna, Ashera and I left. An hour to kill until the cocktail party, which had absolutely nothing worth mentioning except the lack of vegetarian selection - poor Jenna. :( Oh, and the wonderful Steven L. Sears was in attendance, but I had not yet had a chance to speak with him. It was pretty much impossible to catch Steven without a throng of Xenites around him. ;) And now, the great migration of Xenites. Our large group now headed on masse to the Fifth Avenue Theatre. I felt like someone should have been running ahead of us shouting, "The Xenites are coming! The Xenites are coming!" There's Lucy's name up on the sign for "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" - what a rush that was! Hoping about, inside, inside, inside, get inside! Lucy's inside! The theatre is just gorgeous theatre with a Chinese decorating style. Chinese dragons on the wall, painted on the 'curtain' (which was actually more like a back drop except that it was in front and hiding the stage - but, hey - no bad luck as no could break this curtain before the show!). There was also a huge dragon carved into the ceiling. Very cool. < bitch >Gold seat Xenites paid $75 for our tickets. What the hell were we doing in the nose bleed seats if $75 was the TOP price? We should have been close enough to touch the stage for that price! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. < /bitch > I was ordered to write a detailed review of the play, so here's the rundown of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" a play by play. ;) First, we were teased with a score by the orchestra (the, shut the hell up and take your seats number). Ack! Just lift the curtain! I want LUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCY! Lifting, lifting, there it goes, and my heart starts racing. I can't believe I'm here. I just can't believe I'm seeing Lucy. Bad as these seats are, they are far better than my row JJ seats from the 2001 Pasadena convention! There's the choir. Wow. A few extras run around, while there's an image of a boat on the backdrop. Where' my Lucy, damn-it!? A woman with short black hair and dressed in a pink top with spaghetti straps and a black pants is pushed onto the stage atop a large piece of luggage. People start cheering. What? Who is that? Is that Faith or something? No, sweet Mother of Zeus, that's LUCY! I did catch on before she started singing, but you must forgive me for not seeing it was her right away with a wig and up in these crappy seats. Oh, hello ceiling. How are you? The wig she was wearing could have come from the "Stranger in a Strange Land" set. Lucy opens the play as Dorothy Shaw, her voice belting across the theatre in a way we've never heard before as she performs "It's High Time." As much as I love Lucy's performances in "The Bitter Suite" and "Lyre, Lyre, Hearts on Fire," they seem forced and unmotivated compared to this fee and clearly very happy performance. Lucy's obviously having a blast and it makes all the difference in her singing. And the 250 members of the men's choir's voice are added to Lucy's for one hell of a musical number. The interesting thing about this play is, only earlier that day had the entire cast had their first rehearsal together. It was a play read on script where the actors carry the scripts to refer to. Plays such as this are still blocked out and performances directed, but actors don't need to memorize lines, which does allow the show to be put on with less rehearsal time (I've directed a few like this myself). The song ends to the cheering of the crowd (I thought you had to be quiet when watching a play?) and Faith Prince enters as Lorelei Lee and greets her best friend, Dorothy. Gus Esmond, Lorelei's fiancie enters. He's unable to come with them on the cruise to Paris as he has business to attend to with his father (who doesn't approve of Lorelei though he has never met her). Gus is nervous about letting Lorelei go unsupervised aboard the boat and Dorothy becomes Lorelei's chaperone. Dorothy exits the stage as she boards the boat and Lorelei and Gus perform "Bye-Bye Baby." Now we're on the boat and Dorothy is lounging in a deck chair. Lorelei enters. She's on the hunt for a rich husband for Dorothy, though Dorothy wants none of it, her eye on the Olympic training lads running laps around the boat in their matching red jogging outfits. A telegram is brought out to Lorelei who cries, "This is from Arkansas!" and the band plays a "Dun, dun, DUN" beat. Lucy, fooling around, but in character, pretends to look for the source of the music (like the fairytale characters in "If the Shoe Fits..." when Aphrodite laughs). Dorothy asks why Lorelei is worried and Lorelei shoves Dorothy aside into the other deck chair on the farthest side of stage right (damn, the hardest corner for me to see and I must crane my neck to keep my eyes on Lucy - always on Lucy!) As Lorelei sings "I'm Just a Little Girl from Littlerock," Lucy is still clearly having a ball as she nods her head with the beat, laughs and then gets her shoulders moving too, managing to be completely Lucy while also somehow remaining in character. The number ends (once more to the cheering as every number will). Another telegram arrives from Gus; he's found out about Lorelei's "tangle with the law." Lorelei crumbles up the telegram, throws it down and steps on it (though she misses it actually, so Lucy and steps on it too). Lorelei figures its over with Gus and expresses "We gotta get somewhere with this trip" to which Dorothy replies, "We're going to Paris, aren't we?" Faith and Lucy have perfect comic timing, never lose the gags and play off each other brilliantly. Throughout this scene the boys in red have continued to run by. Lorelei hits on Mr. Gage. As she does this Dorothy sits down in the deck chair that is near the middle of the stage and Lucy uses her script book as a prop to hide behind as she watches Lorelei strike out. Mr. Gage leaves and Dorothy mocks Lorelei for missing out. Well, Lorelei isn't fazed and she's on the hunt for a man for Dorothy now. Lorelei moves to Henry's Mrs. Spofford (Henry is one of the runners). Henry is rich, but Dorothy has no interest in money. Lorelei talks up Mrs. Spofford who says, "I don't find Henry attractive," which Dorothy seizes and replies with, "Neither do I." Lorelei pulls Dorothy away from Mrs. Spofford when the runners come by again and take Dorothy with them to go swimming. The stage is cleared and Lucy and the boys return for Lucy's big solo, "I Love What I'm Doing." ::DROOL. DROOL:: Lucy owns this number, a full solo without even the choir for a large part of it. The runners begin to do push ups as the choir joins in. Dorothy moves to one of the guys and half sits on him as he does his push ups. The guys continue to exercise as Dorothy moves along, touching shoulders and heads. The guys are doing most of the dancing and Lucy has been given much simpler moves, mostly moving her arms and hips as opposed to real dancing. Lucy then sits in the chair at the end of stage right as the guys dance and she's brought a drink. Lucy continues to shake her shoulders, always engrossed in the music. The runners pull off their shits, then rip off their pants, now in shorts and tank tops as they pull Dorothy up and they all dance, one more keeping it simpler for Lucy, while a few guys do some fancier dancing. They all look great, complicated dance or not. The choir hands the guys and Lucy towels and they are worked into the dance, while only the choir is singing now. Lucy moves to the front of the stage and the guys lift her up over their heads. Seems, originally, this move was supposed to be done with Lucy facing the audience, but she almost took a dive into the orchestra pit during rehearsals according to Sharon, so the move was changed so Lucy was on her back, not her side, giving the guys a little surface to hold her up with. The lift invoked a lot of cheering. Placing Lucy down, Dorothy then begins to pick guys until she's snapped them all up and they've run off stage, followed by Lucy. Now this involved a little staging glitch. When Lucy had sat down, her script had been left on the chair so she could do the dance number. When the chair was pulled off the stage, Lucy needed to be given her script while she walks all the way around the back of the stage, as she exited on stage right and needed to enter via stage left in the following scene. She's supposed to enter right away, but Faith was left alone a little too long. Lucy's mike was also on and a few muffled words were heard. Waiting for Lucy, Faith paces the stage, then faces the choir and asks, "Know any jokes?" Lucy makes her entrance and Faith, in character yells, "Where the hell have you been?" Lucy, looking both sheepish and annoyed as Dorothy ad-libs, "I've been busy" in a 'deal with it' tone. It was hilarious. I wonder if they added that for later shows. Lorelei tells Dorothy she has Mrs. Spofford in the cabin, though she's sleeping off a few drinks in the bedroom. Dorothy expresses again that she doesn't want to marry for money and starts to move off, but Lorelei calls her back. Dorothy says she doesn't want to meet Henry, but then he arrives. Dorothy moves to stage right, but Lorelei pulls her back over as she greets Henry. Lorelei turns on her record player and romantic music begins to play, a song Henry knows and loves. "It's my chaperone's favourite," Lorelei replies. Dorothy, arms folded, replies, "Why not?" giving up on fighting with Lorelei about the issue, but not helping her either. "To be frank, it's the most romantic song in Philadelphia," Henry informs them. "To be frank, I didn't think you had any romance in Philadelphia," Dorothy replies as she winks at the audience. Henry says he'd sing it, but it's too provocative. "Go ahead, provoke us," Dorothy invites. "Just a Kiss Apart" starts up, performed wonderfully by Louis. Dorothy is totally unimpressed and her body language clearly displays her lack of interest. But as Henry sings, Dorothy is pulled in. Faith takes Lucy and Louis' scripts and Henry and Dorothy waltz, though Dorothy looks slightly uncomfortable. Then, as the song ends, Dorothy has become completely memorized and all but attacks Henry with a kiss (which Sharon comments she didn't see in rehearsals). Henry leaves and Dorothy wipes her lips. "Say, that voice of his sure packs a wallop." Lady Beekman enters now, as Lorelei has made arrangements to purchase her tiara. Lorelei makes a comment about having a chaperone and Lady Beekman looks around in confusion. "Your chaperone?" Dorothy raises her arm. "That's me, kid." Lorelei is handed the tiara and Faith is hilarious as Lady Beekman describes the tiara and Lorelei first puts it on her arm, finds it too big, so she puts it around her neck. Dorothy takes it from her and puts it on Lorelei's head to Lorelei's delight. "It's only two thousand pounds," Lady Beekman tells her. "Really?" Lorelei replies. "Seems lighter." "No, that's English money." "How much is it real money?" It's ten thousand and not something Lorelei can afford, so she gives it back. Lady Beekman tells her to 'borrow' money, after all, there's a lot of rich men aboard who may just buy it for her. Lorelei makes plans to get the tiara from Lady Beekman's husband, Lord Beekman. Dorothy leaves and Lord Beekman enters shortly after. Lord Beekman sings "It's Delightful Down in Chile." The choir joins in and Lorelei is very good at seducing Lord Beekman. Lorelei leads Lord Beekman off stage. The choir continues to sing and 'cha-cha-chas' to the crowd's roaring approval. Lorelei enters with a fur scarf and Lord Beekman behind her. Lord Beekman gives Lorelei lots of money and they leave the stage again, the choir still singing. The choir waltzes with each other. Lorelei enters once more with Lord Beekman, who carries numerous bags for her. They sing again and then exit once more. When they enter again, Lorelei is wearing the tiara with Lord Beekman following her. The lights come down as they exit again and the choir puts on berets and sing "Paris" as they steps onto the stage. When it's over, they move back onto the belchers and a couch is set up on the stage. Lorelei enters with Mr. Gage who carries her bags. Mr. Gage is the inventor of the zipper, and has had all of Lorelei's outfits fitted with zippers instead of buttons (as Gus runs a button business). Lorelei offers him a drink and he sings "I'm Atingle, I'm Aglow" about how he doesn't drink or eat bad food. Dorothy has entered and doesn't seem to think Mr. Gage is any fun with her body language, even as Lucy bounces her shoulders, enjoying the number. Lorelei and Dorothy join in the song for the last few lines. As Mr. Gage finishes his song, he pulls a carrot out of his pocket, takes a bite and exits. Lorelei is missing Gus, but refuses to read the numerous telegrams he has sent. Two French men enter, but the women don't know what they are saying. The men hand the women a card, though that clears up nothing. They start to search for their French/English translation book. As they do, Lorelei hands the men the tiara, to their delight, as they have been sent by Lady Beekman to get it back. Lorelei grabs it back and the men threaten to call the police in broken English. "What are we going to do?" Dorothy asks. Lorelei replies, "I'll take the little one." "A chaperone's work is never done." They move back to the guys, now hitting on them. The guys are even happier at this prospect and decide to take the women out on Lady Beekman's dime. Suddenly the Olympic runners from the boat enter. They've won a gold metal and Henry places it around Dorothy's neck. Dorothy opens the next musical number, "Keeping Cool With Coolidge." The choir joins in and then Lorelei and Dorothy take turns singing this number, Lucy still clearly having a blast. Everyone begins to sing, taking turns and Lucy dances in place again. The song ends and Gus enters. "What the hell is going on here?" He asks Lorelei if she got his telegrams and she admits to not reading them. "Maybe you should read them now," Dorothy suggests as she hands them to Lorelei. They read that Gus doesn't care about Lorelei's past and wants to marry her, which is why he has come. Now he's mad. The French men leave. Gus grabs Simone (who's appeared out of no where as they are inside Lorelei and Dorothy's place) and leaves with her. Dorothy touches Lorelei's shoulder to offer her some comfort and Lorelei reprises "I'm Just a Little Girl From Littlerock" and Dorothy and the choir join in. Curtin closes - intermission. Wait! BRING BACK MY LUCY! I can't even get up to leave. I mean, Lucy's back there. At the end of the intermission, we are once more teased by the orchestra playing the "Okay, sit down now" piece before the curtain rises. The set is now a restaurant, with five tables, lit by candle light. Dorothy enters in a spectacular, sparkling blue dress. Dorothy is with Henry and Mrs. Spofford and they sit at the table of on stage left at the front. Gus enters with Simone and sits at the far table near the back on stage left. Lady Beekman enters with the two French men and they sit at the table on stage right at the back. At this point Lucy is pointing at the script and laughing, while Henry and Mrs. Spofford more their lips but don't talk. It looks like they are just pretending to chat for the scene. Lord Beekman enters with two women and takes the middle table on stage left. Lastly, Mr. Gage and Lorelei enter, the tiara on Lorelei's head. They sit at the front table on stage right. Dorothy rises and moves to Lorelei's table, warning her that Gus is there and that Simone will be performing as Gus paid to ensure she'd be singing. Lorelei refuses to leave, and Dorothy moves back to her table, sighing, and Henry comforts her as she sits back down at their table. Mr. Gage and Lorelei begin to dance, which worries Dorothy. Sure enough, Gus stands and interrupts the dancers. Dorothy runs over and walks away with Lorelei as the men begin to shout, getting ready to fight, which is encouraged by Mrs. Spofford. Lorelei intervenes to protect Gus which angers Mr. Gage further. Lorelei leaves and music strikes up and the choir begins to sing, which stops the fight before it starts and the men return to their tables. Simone enters in a short and sparkling red dress. Dorothy is stunned as Simone faces the crowd and moves through the choir in a classic lounge act dance number. Henry comforts Dorothy, who holds her head. Simone performs "Mamie is Mimi." Dorothy makes a big show of yawning as Simone and two choir members have a long dance number. Lucy closes her binder at this point and watches the dance, while still acting on the fact that Dorothy is unimpressed. The number ends and the lights go down. I could help but notice that everyone but Lucy acted as a stage hand and removed the props and furniture. The choir sits down and the back drop turns to a bright night sky, lit with ting lights as a lamppost is lowered from above. Lorelei enters and walks across the stage, still wearing the tiara and begins to sing the "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" number. Most of the number is sung only by Faith and the choir joins in only at the end. Lorelei exits and the night sky and lamppost are removed as the couch is brought back on stage. Gus is sitting on the couch waiting for Lorelei when she enters and he comments how he paid for the room when she asks what he's doing there. Simone is not with him. "Why didn't you tell me you shot a guy in Littlerock?" Dun, dun, dun - from the orchestra. Lorelei doesn't answer. "It's true, isn't it?" Again, she says nothing and the crowd laughs (uh, I don't remember why this was funny, but it was). Lorelei looks to the audience and begins to tell her story. When she left home, moving to the wrong side of the tracks, her father gave her advice; her mother gave her a revolver. A man named Mr. Jennings hired her, but he was after more than her secretary skills, so Lorelei shot Mr. Jennings in the hip. "He said things I wouldn't say to myself," Lorelei tells Gus. "That son of a bitch!" Gus roars. "That was one." A kind judge let Lorelei off and changed her name to Lorelei so she could start fresh. Lorelei tells Gus that the judge told her the name "was made famous by a woman who sat on a rock in Germany" to the roar of the crowd (except me - that one went over my head). Lorelei and Gus make up and the two sing "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," then kiss. Dorothy, Henry and Mrs. Spofford enter, followed by Mr. Gage. Lorelei refuses to marry Gus until his father, who hates her, asks her to marry Gus. Dorothy hugs Lorelei, happy she and Gus are back together. The group is suddenly homesick for America (this really seemed to come out of nowhere). They begin to sing "Homesick," and stand, moving to the edge of the stage and facing the crowd. The song ends and the lights go down. Everyone except Dorothy and Mrs. Spofford leave the stage. A red carpet is rolled out and Lucy walks over it, making sure all the corners are down. The lights come back up. Henry runs in and he and the choir sing about how Lorelei has rigged it so Esmond Senior will be brought to where they are with the song, "Miss Lorelei Lee." Lucy's moving her shoulders to the beat of the song once again. Dorothy and Mrs. Spofford join Henry and the choir for the song. Dorothy and Henry have a short duet and then the choir and Mrs. Spofford join in again. The song ends and Henry suggests to the Dorothy that he propose to her. She tells him not to and he asks why. "Because I would make a lousy millionairess!" Henry reveals he has no money; that it all belongs to his Mrs. Spofford and he'll even be getting a job soon. Dorothy agrees to marry him and they share a duet again until Mrs. Spofford and choir join in. At the end of the song, Henry dips and kisses Dorothy. Sirens are heard and Esmond Senior is wheeled in, in his wheelchair. All the other characters enter and then Lorelei, wearing a veil. Her wedding gown is covered in buttons (well, not really because Faith hasn't had any costumes changes, but go with it). She is wearing the buttons because Esmond Senior and Gus own a button business. Esmond Seniors likes the dress and Lorelei's taste in buttons until Gus introduces her and Esmond Senior tries to leave, though Gus stops him. Lorelei says she can help their business and starts singing about jiggles and how they work with the number, "Button Up With Esmond." Then Lorelei is on the radio and begins to sing about buttons into the mike placed before her (uh, don't ask me to explain this, cause it didn't make any sense to me either). Once again, Lucy's dancing in place and even does a little 'jazz hand' with her right hand. A small group from the choir comes forward and sings a jiggle about buttons. Lucy's just adorable as she sways, her legs moving now too and she's clapping. Then zippers and buttons unite as Esmond Senior and Mr. Gage strike a deal. Esmond Senior realizes Lorelei's brilliance and welcomes her into the family by standing up and hugging her. Everyone sings the reprise of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and the curtain lowers. Oh...the... CHEERING! Everyone (not just the Xenites whose reaction was obvious) rose in an unanimous standing ovation and the place was literally vibrating from the noise of the cheering and the clapping. The curtain rises again and we continue to howl as the actors take their bows. Lucy's turn? Don't ask me how, but we somehow got even louder - we just went nuts with cheering and applause. Faith received the Simonee reception for her bow. Lucy and Faith are handed roses and the cast reprises "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" again as the curtain falls...and we're still screaming. So, the actual review now, right? ;) First, I've got to say - Not enough Lucy in the second act!!!!! After hoe large her role was in the first act, Act Two delivered less of our Flawless Goddess. :( Either than that, I have not one issue with anything. It was my first musical experience, and I look forward to another, even if it doesn't have Lucy Lawless (though, it simply will not be able to be as good). ;) The entire cast, dancers and choir were amazingly talented and the level of quality of performance would have been incredible with months of practice; performing at that level when they'd only had one rehearsal together, made it a phenomenon! Those voices, all of them, completely memorizing, and everyone was just so much fun to watch. I don't think anyone in the theatre was having as much fun as Lucy. Now, I never saw "Grease!" except for a few clips of Lucy singing, so I only have those to base it on, but I'd say "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" was the greatest musical performance of Lucy's career. Yes, even better than "The Love of Your Love" (and that means a lot coming from me!) Lucy was free on stage, liberated and obviously having an absolute blast, and this exploded from her lips with a voice unlike any we've heard her use before. It just doesn't seem possible that Lucy could have had as much fun at any other performance as she did at this one. I'm so thrilled I got to experience it. What an ultimate moment for a Lucy Lawless fan. Okay, play's over - move! To the back of the theatre, Batman! Rush, rush, rush. Wow, there's already a pretty large crowd in the yucky, filthy alley with an evilly placed steam vent that will be the bane of my existence all weekend! Hot, hot, sticky steam up my pants! Eeeew! Damn wind, pick a direction so the steam can be escaped without having to leave this coveted spot right at the exit of the theatre. Well, I'm a big enough fan, I'll endure it if I must! I'll never have a chance to be this close to my idol again, so I will just deal! The heart, oh how it races every time that door opens, camera posed, ready to fire off shots, even while holding the Xena photo and the sharpie, ready to drop the camera the second I need to. Now, starring as hard as we all were, and after every person who exited was not Lucy, when she did finally come out, even the most hardcore fan must remind themselves she's not a towering Amazon, and, quite frankly, looks very little like Xena. Meaning, it took two seconds for the screaming to begin, and just as fast to crush my dreams, as, body guard on each arm, Lucy's - zoom - through the crowd, down the alley and gone. No autograph and only one photo! There and gone, the moment is lost. Needless to say, everyone was bummed and Ashera, Jenna and I had a little mope in our room. I just couldn't believe Lucy didn't even stay for a minute. From everything I've read and seen from live appearances of Lucy's, she's always been incredibly generous. Not to say we were mad, no, no, no, it's her time and her life after all, but we were certainly depressed about it. "Suck it up!" I told myself. There's two days left to try again for an autograph with Lucy and tomorrow I'm guaranteed an encounter with Renee O'Connor. SATURDAY AND SUNDAY COMING SOON... Xena Torres: Bitch of Rome http://www.geocities.com/bitchofrome http://www.bitchofrome.com - COMING 07/15/05 "Time to put you out of my misery." - Livia "Eve" ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ End of chakram-refugees-digest V5 #151 **************************************